POD 6-24-2021 GE "Programmed" Washer

[tomturbomatic]

I wonder why they switched from a warm rinse, used in the programmed special cycle in machines starting in the late 50s to a cold rinse.

I remember reading in the owner's manual for our 58 Lady that woolens got a warm rinse so that the fibers would not experience a thermal shock and shrink like other delicate proteins do when subjected to cold water, or air, for that matter. The explanation of why the "G" Woolens cycle was in the Orange Normal Cycle was because Woolens held a lot of water and needed the normal spin to remove that water. We washed a lot of blankets in that machine; never sent them to the dry cleaners.

 

[launderess]

Wool will felt/shrink if temps go too quickly from one extreme to the other. That is taking something from hot or boiling water (yes you can boil wool), and immersing it into cold or very water.

Going from warm (say 100 F) to tap cold at around 86 F shouldn't cause that much of an issue.

Since this cycle must cope with both wool and silk a cold water rinse would mean a bit less creasing for latter fiber, thus less ironing I shouldn't wonder.

All of my European front loaders have option for warm or cold water (tap or heated) for wash, but rinses are always tap cold.

Never bother with heated washes for woolens unless tap water is extremely cold. Since normally wash woolens before they are put away for warmer weather, by time spring or summer arrive tap water is at 86 F or even a bit above.

Add to above today's modern wool washing products work quite well in all but most frigid water.

 

[foraloysius]

Somewhat akward indeed. If they had changed to cold rinses only it would make sense. But there are still warm rinses for cotton on that machine. With only one rinse after the hot wash that would still make a bit of a warm rinse. I guess most people would use the cottons cycles more often than the wool one, so if warm water saving was an issue they had better changed the cottons rinses to cold.

 

[tomturbomatic]

In Atlanta, our tap cold water was always painfully frigid because it came out of a deep reservoir. Thanks to John finding me a tempering valve at a Habitat for Humanity thrift store, I can supply my cold rinse only machines with 75-80F cold water year round.

 

[maytag85]

Since my 1963 RCA Whirlpool Imperial Mark XII has been in service for the past few weeks, I used the Wash N Wear cycle to wash some synthetic clothing in it and was thoroughly happy with the results since everything wasn’t wrinkled and was like new. My Whirlpool does only cold rinses on the Wash N Wear cycle and does the multiple cool downs to not set in wrinkles.

 

[tomturbomatic]

All washers, not just your 1963 RCA Whirlpool Imperial Mark XII, gave cold rinses in the Wash 'n Wear or Permanent Press cycle. If you finish the Wash 'n Wear or Permanent Press fabrics in a dryer, it makes no difference what rinse water temperature you use or how much water you waste in the cool downs before the spin after the wash because heat is needed to relax the fabrics so that they shed wrinkles and the tumble dryer provides that heat in the drying. I have had the same excellent results washing and drying Permanent Press garments in Frigidaire Unimatic washers with the 1140 RPM spins and no appreciable cool down after the warm wash and the Filtrator dryers without partially pulling out the Filtrator cartridge. The WP-designed Wash and Wear cycles were designed to give the best performance possible if used without a clothes dryer.

 

[launderess]

Warm Rinses

In automatic washing machines sold in USA were largely a legacy from when soap was still being used by many housewives and others for laundry. That went on well into 1950's and even 1960's, some just liked what they liked. Also many were reluctant to give up the old ways and felt warm (if not hot) rinses gave better results.

Then came energy crisis of 1970's and warm rinse option began vanishing from automatic washing machines. There was also a loud and persistent drum beat from consumer groups (such as Consumer Reports) and anyone else advising Madame on laundry that cold water gave same results as rinsing in warm water.

Of course by 1980's soap had largely (some would say finally) vanished from wash day. Soon even Ivory Snow soap powder switched over to being a detergent product.

All this being said case for rinsing in warm water regardless of soap or detergent being used for washing does have good support.

Warm water rinses means laundry emerges "warm" thus dryers don't have to work hard at start to overcome "cold" laundry. Consumer Reports acknowledged this but stated the amount of energy used was still less than heating water for "warm" rinses.

Because warm water allows textile fibers (natural not man made), to remain open some feel it does provide better rinse results. Again this is regardless of soap or detergent being used for laundering.

Warm rinses allows better extraction of water which less residual moisture retention. Industrial/commercial laundries rarely rinse in cold water, but a "split" of 100 F or maybe low as 86 F.

Finally there is fact certain fabric softeners/conditioners just dissolve better in warmer water. The SQ washers at local laundromat use "split" hot and cold water for final rinse. Hot water goes into fabric softener dispenser, but machine fills otherwise with cold.

"warm water final rinse"

My new Samsung 4.5 cubic ft. front loader has a warm final rinse on "normal" cycle. 1 to 5 rinses can be selected. Pretty neat. This machine is an excellent performer if ya ask me. Better stain removal than I'm used to also.

www.automaticwasher.org

 

[launderess]

Oh and if anyone was wondering why someone would boil woolen garments or bedding such as blankets, in a word "lice".



That was one reason why people boiled washing of cottons, linens and wool was that absent modern chemicals it was one sure way to rid things of lice and their eggs.

Lice will get themselves deep into seams of garments to live and lay eggs. Meaning it can be tough to get at one or both. Very hot or boil washing will do the job. Ironing will add a measure of safety, and of course once they came along tumble dryers using high enough heat setting.

https://liceclinicstemecula.com/laundry-lice-cleanup/

 

[tomturbomatic]

Very hot water, if not boiling, also helped to dissolve the chipped or shaved bar soap that was used to wash the fabrics and dishes. When soap was made, it was poured into molds and anything you wanted to do with soap started with that bar of soap. Getting the soap into solution presented many challenges. Often seen near the sink in old kitchens was a metal mesh clam shell like device that looked like a large loose leaf tea infuser. It held chips of bar soap and was wisked through the dish pan of hot water to make it soapy and sudsy. Wisk detergent harkened back to that procedure. Soap was also dissolved into a solution of hot water to form a jelly or liquid that was used for cleaning and was easier to use because the soap was already in solution and could be used to pretreat heavily soiled areas of fabrics.

A caveat about dryer heat and de-wrinkling Perma Press fabrics. If the dryer does not get hot enough (160F), it will not relax the wrinkles so you have to count on a warm water wash to relax the wrinkles if you are using an electric dryer that operates on 120 volts and does not have the special air restriction plate that GE sold as an accessory so that the air temperature in the dryer would de-wrinkle fabrics. It was placed over the lint filter opening after removing the lint filter. When I used my DE806 on 120 volts, I backed it up to a radiator to supply extra heat and the Permanent Press cycle worked fine until a 240 volt circuit was installed. I guess I should add that Maytag's Permanent Press cycle had a mandatory temperature that had to be reached before the cycle terminated. [this post was last edited: 6/25/2021-11:48]

 

[yogitunes]

many complain of Filter-Flo washers using an excessive amount of water to fill that outter tub....

but there is no mention of the exclusive 'Wash N' Wear' cycle introduced in the 1958 RCA WHIRLPOOL IMPERIAL MARK XII washer's 'Cool Down' which consisted of 6 partial drain and refills, not including the fill for Wash and Rinse, and added Spin spray rinses....

available in Decorator Colors.....

Better Home Appliances...For Better Homes

you have to think back, Warm rinses was more of an issue from people with wringer washers....in the rinse tubs, there was no agitation, so the plunging of clothing was done by hand, and more of a relief for your hands with warmer temps versus chilled cold water....even with the automatics, pulling clothing from the machine after the last spin, it just felt better to remove warmed clothing versus if they were chilled, and somewhat stiff...

 

[tomturbomatic]

And if they were warm, they were more flexible and easier to shake out for hanging to dry.

 

[maytag85]

One thing I forgot to mention is the cool down fills on the Wash N Wear cycle are slower than molasses same thing with all the cold fills on my 1963 RCA Whirlpool Imperial Mark XII and no the screens on the inlet valve aren’t clogged and I guess that’s how it works so I’ll just leave it alone for now.

 

[DADoES]

 
No impairment of cold water flow on the 1962 lower model we had.  Is your valve original or changed?

 

[maytag85]

Reply #12

It appears to be original as far as I can tell. Only repairs that were done to it was the belt and pump were replaced sometime in the early 2000’s and of course the fan belt on the dryer was replaced at one point in time was well and those were the only repairs I could tell there were done it when 8 brought it home on July 25th 2020.

 

[combo52]

Slow Cold Water On A 1963 WP Washer

Hi Sean your WP should take only 3-4 minutes to fill the tub completely on the cold setting, if it takes much longer you have a bad cold water valve diaphragm.

 

Have you replaced it ?, It is also best to replace all three VDs at the same time to prevent other problems including flooding from valves that do not shut off.

 

John L.

 

[maytag85]

Reply #14

I’ll have to look into why it takes a absurd a out of time to fill on the cold temperature. Oddly enough it works perfectly on the warm and medium temperature settings though and more than likely could be something with the thermostatic water valve.